Rebound Screen

ABSTRACT

A rebound screen is provided that includes a frame having a base for supporting the screen on a surface and an upwardly extending portion attached to the base. The upwardly extending portion includes a lower horizontal cross member and an upper horizontal cross member joined by a pair of side members. Each of the side members is formed with a curved shape that enables a ball striking a net secured between the side members to rebound off of the net in a direction either back to the individual who threw the ball or in a random direction depending upon the portion of the net and the corresponding curve provided by the side frame members that the ball strikes.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure generally relates to a screen for practicingsports, and more specifically to a screen adapted to return a projectilethrown against the screen in an unpredictable manner.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In practicing various sports that involve the throwing of a projectile,such as a ball, it is often necessary to practice catching as well asthrowing the ball. For example, in baseball while it is necessary forthe player to be able to throw the baseball to the intended target, itis also necessary for the player to be able to field or catch thebaseball as well.

To allow players to practice both throwing and catching a projectile orball when a second player is not available, many different structureshave been developed for this purpose. These structures range fromstatic, planar structures, to moveable frames. In each case, thestructure is designed for the player to throw the ball against thestructure to enable the player to practice the throwing motion of theball. In addition, to enable the player to practice catching or fieldingthe ball, when the structure is struck with the ball, the structurerebounds the ball back to the player to facilitate the player catching,fielding or otherwise stopping the motion of the ball off of thestructure.

To enhance the functionality of the structure, some structure haveadditional elements secured thereto that enable the structure to reboundthe ball or projectile back to the player in an adjustable and/or morerandom or unpredictable manner. In doing so, not only do the structurespromote practicing of the throwing and catching of the ball, but alsothe reaction time of the player by causing the ball to return to theplayer in a number of different and/or random manners thereby causingthe player to react to the different rebound flights of the ball.

However, with these prior art rebound screens it is required to addadditional components to the structure of the screen to enable thescreen to be adjusted into a different configuration or to provide therandom nature for the screen, significantly adding to the complexity andcost of the screen. Also, the additional components added to the screensto provide the adjustability and/or random rebound aspect cannot readilybe removed from the screen such that the screens can operate only in asingle rebound manner at any time.

Therefore, it is desirable to develop a rebound screen capable ofoperating in different manners that does not require additionalcomponents to be added to the screen for operation in the differentmanners.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a rebound screenis provided that includes a frame having a base for supporting thescreen on a surface and an upwardly extending portion attached to thebase. The upwardly extending portion includes a lower horizontal crossmember and an upper horizontal cross member joined by a pair of sidemembers. Each of the side members is formed with a curved shape. A netis attached between the side members and the upper and lower crossmembers of the upwardly extending portion and against which a ball orother projectile can be thrown. The curvature of the side membersprovides a surface for the netting that enables a ball striking the netto rebound off of the net in a direction back to the individual whothrew the ball or in a wide variety of different and/or randomdirections depending upon the portion of the net and the correspondingcurve provided by the side frame members that the ball strikes.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the position ofthe lower cross member can be varied with respect to the base to varythe curvature of the net secured to the frame, thereby varying theamount of the net capable of providing the random rebound attribute tothe screen.

Numerous other aspects, features and advantages of the presentdisclosure will be made apparent from the following detailed descriptiontaken together with the drawing figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings illustrate the best mode currently contemplated ofpracticing the present invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a first embodiment of the rebound screenof present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an isometric view of a second embodiment of the frame for thescreen of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side plan view of the frame of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front plan view of the frame of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is top plan view of the frame of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of a third embodiment of the screen of FIG.1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawing figures in which like referencenumbers designate like parts throughout the disclosure, a rebound screenconstructed according to the present disclosure is shown generally at 10in FIG. 1. The screen 10 includes a frame 12 including a base portion 14with a pair of supporting legs 15, and a rebound portion 16 extendingupwardly from the base portion 14. The rebound portion 16 includes alower cross member 18 and an upper cross member 20 joined by a pair ofside members 22.

The screen 10 also includes a net 26 secured to the rebound portion 16.The net 26 includes a number of filaments 28 of a suitable flexiblematerial, such as nylon, that are woven or otherwise interconnected withone another in the illustrated embodiment to form the net 26 withregularly sized and spaced apertures 30 therein. The apertures 30 can beformed with any desired shape, but in the illustrated embodiment aregenerally square in shape.

In the illustrated embodiment the net 26 includes a peripheral filament32 that defines the shape of the net 26. The peripheral filament 32 isaffixed to the upwardly extending portion 16 by a number of stretchableor deformable connectors 34 extending between the rebound portion 16 andthe peripheral filament 32. These connectors 34 can take the form ofother suitable stretchable filaments or springs, and are each secured atone end to one of the upper or lower cross members 18, 20 or the sidemembers 22 of the rebound portion 16 and to the peripheral filament 32at the opposite end. The number and placement of the connectors 34 canvary as desired, but in the illustrated embodiment the connectors 34 arepositioned to enable the net 26 to conform to the shape of the upwardlyextending portion 16 of the frame 12. The net 26 can also include atarget 36 formed within or by some of the filaments 28 forming the net26. The target 36 as a color different that the filaments 28 in order toprovide a clear visual indication of the target 36 in contrast to theremainder of the net 26. The shape of the target 36 can be selected asdesired, but in the illustrated embodiment is generally square orrectangular in shape.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 2-5 the frame 12 is formed of anumber of rods 38 formed of a suitable material, such as a metal orrelatively rigid plastic, and interconnected with one another to formthe frame 12. The rods 38 are each tubular in shape with a circularcross-section, and can each include a narrow end (not shown) that can beinserted into a corresponding open end (not shown) of an adjacent rod38. A screw 40 is inserted though aligned apertures 42 in the respectiverods 38 to secure the rods 38 to one another. Alternatively, in theembodiments of FIGS. 1 and 6, the rods 38 forming the base portion 14,and the side members 22 and upper cross member 20 can be integrallyformed with one another.

Looking now at FIG. 1, to provide the random and repeating nature of therebound for a ball or projectile striking the screen 10, the sidemembers 22 of the upwardly extending portion 16 are each shaped to havea curve 43 along their length. The curve 43 provides the net 26 securedto the side members 22 of the rebound portion 16 with a shapecorresponding to the curve 43. As a result, the net 26 will cause a ballstriking the net 26 to rebound in a manner that matches the angle of thenet 26 at that location on the frame 12.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the side members 22 eachinclude a lower angled section 44 and an upper vertical section 46. Thelower angled section 44 is angled upwardly from the horizontal at anangle of between thirty (30) and forty-five (45) degrees, with theillustrated embodiment angled at about forty (40) degrees with respectto the horizontal, while the upper section 46 is positioned atapproximately ninety (90) degrees with respect to the horizontal. Inthis configuration, when a ball strikes the vertical upper portion 46,the ball rebounds back to the player in a repeatable manner as ifstriking a vertical surface. However, due to the curvature of the lowersection 44, a ball striking this portion 44 will rebound back towardsthe player in a direction corresponding to the angle of the net 26 inthe lower section 44. Thus, depending upon the incoming angle of theball with respect to the lower section 44 of the screen 12, the ball canrebound back to the player at an angle that is lower, higher or the sameas the incoming angle, resulting in an infinite number of different andrelatively random rebound angles off of the screen 10 without the needto adjust the configuration of the screen 10.

Looking now at FIGS. 2-5, in a second embodiment of the screen 12, theside members 22 include a curved section 48 that extends inwardly fromthe vertical section 46 opposite the lower section 44. In otherembodiments, the vertical section 46 can be made to be very small oromitted entirely, such that the side members can be formed entirely ofthe curved sections 44 and 48 (FIG. 6). The section 48 extends inwardlyfrom the vertical section 46, or the lower section 44 is the verticalsection 46 is omitted, at an angle of ten (10) to thirty (30) degreesfrom the vertical, with the illustrated embodiment extending inwardlyapproximately twenty (20) degrees from the vertical. In thisconfiguration, in additional to the manner in which the ball can reboundoff of the lower section 44 or vertical section 46 as described withrespect to the previous embodiment, a ball striking the section 48 canrebound downwardly towards the ground or other surface on which the base14 is positioned, or onto the sections 44 and/or 46 depending upon theincoming angle of the ball. As a result, the “randomness” of the reboundpath of the ball back to the individual or player throwing the ball atthe screen 10 is increased to provide an infinite number of reboundpaths without the need for any adjustment of the structure of the screen10. The structure of the frame 12 in FIGS. 2-5 can also have the lowercross member 18 positioned level with the base portion 14. In thisconfiguration, the net 26 can additionally be secured to the sidemembers 22 down to the lower cross member 18, i.e., to the level of theground, in order to provide and additional rebound aspect to the screen10 when a ball strikes the lower part of the net 26.

Numerous additional features and advantages of the present disclosureare contemplated as being within the scope of the following claimsparticularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matterregarded as the invention.

I hereby claim:
 1. A rebound screen comprising: a. a frame including abase portion and a rebound portion, the rebound portion including afirst curved section; and b. a net secured to the at least one curvedsection of the rebound portion.
 2. The screen of claim 1 wherein therebound portion further comprises a vertical section adjacent the firstcurved section.
 3. The screen of claim 2 wherein the rebound portionfurther comprises a second curved section adjacent the vertical sectionand opposite the first curved section.
 4. The screen of claim 3 whereinthe first curved section is curved at an angle of between about thirtyand forty-five degrees with respect to horizontal.
 5. The screen ofclaim 4 wherein the first curved section is curved at an angle of aboutforty degrees with respect to the horizontal.
 6. The screen of claim 3wherein the second curved section is curved at an angle of between tento thirty degrees with respect to the vertical.
 7. The screen of claim 6wherein the second curved section is curved at an angle of twentydegrees with respect to the vertical.
 8. The screen of claim 1 furthercomprising a lower cross member secured to the frame and to the net. 9.The screen of claim 8 wherein the cross member is affixed to the baseportion.
 10. The screen of claim 8 wherein the cross member is affixedto the rebound portion.
 11. The screen of claim 1 wherein the reboundportion comprises: a. a pair of opposed side members joined to the baseportion; b. a lower cross member joined between the side members; and c.an upper cross member joined between the side members and spaced fromthe lower cross member.
 12. A method of practicing throwing and catchinga ball, the method comprising the steps of: a. providing a reboundscreen in a configuration according to claim 1; b. striking the net witha ball to cause the ball to rebound off of the net along a rebound path;and c. retrieving the ball, wherein the screen provides an infinitenumber of rebound paths for the ball without the need for adjusting theconfiguration of the screen.